Bengaluru, July 28 -- India's IT titans mainly manage the information technology (IT) needs of the Fortune 500 but HCL Technologies Ltd is building a business for the smaller companies, borrowing a page from Accenture Plc. The country's third-largest IT services company has carved out a new business, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. It is the first Indian tech services company to build a dedicated unit for the segment. Neo.AI will manage software development, maintenance and data analytics for mid-market clients through HCLTech's AI platform and IT offerings. This move signals a diversification from the traditional cash cows of the country's largest tech services companies. Indian IT's big five-Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Infosys Ltd, HCLTech, Wipro Ltd and Tech Mahindra Ltd-have long lived off the wallets of Fortune 500 companies. Each of these companies draws at least a fifth of its revenue from the 10 largest accounts. This push is expected to bolster HCLTech's revenue, which is poised to grow the fastest of the big six. The company, which ended last year with $14.66 billion in revenue, is expected to grow 1-4% in constant currency terms this fiscal. Constant currency does not take currency fluctuations into account. According to one of the two people, the new unit will also challenge mid-sized IT services companies including Coforge Ltd, Persistent Systems Ltd and Mphasis Ltd. "The broad intent is to target small companies with small pockets of spending and to deliver shared services using the AI Force platform," one of the people said on condition of anonymity. This would target the base of the mid-tier IT services firms that rely on smaller companies to get much of their business. According to the second person, HCLTech is targeting to deliver about three-fifths of the IT work through internally developed AI agents while the rest of the work will be managed by humans. "The goal is to get as many clients as possible to use HCLTech's software and AI platforms for much of their business needs. The company is looking to onboard multiple clients on one software platform which would then be modified based on their needs," added the first person. Earlier this fiscal, HCLTech named company veteran Ashish Kumar Gupta as the head of this unit but it is yet to make a formal announcement. The company's FY26 annual report names him as the global head of a New Business Incubation Group. The unit also hired Aditya Chawla as an area sales director last month as part of this move. Gupta has been with the company for more than two decades and previously headed its Europe, West Asia and Africa business, which makes up more than a fourth of its revenue. According to the second person, about 90 accounts have been transferred to this unit and the company plans to target at least 500 more small accounts. Mint learns that the unit has at least 300 executives, and the sales rollout is "more-or-less complete." "Currently, sales executives want to protect the existing book of business from getting eroded due to AI. With this new unit, there will be a new sales approach where they start with smaller AI deals and then scale the same accounts once return on investment is visible," said Amit Chandra, vice-president at HDFC Securities. An email sent to HCLTech on Saturday seeking comment on its new business unit went unanswered. While tech companies have offerings for mid-market firms, HCLTech is the first large tech services firm to make a dedicated business unit for them. Last month, Accenture said it is forming a small business group to tap smaller firms. "We are also expanding our total addressable market by going after a new, exciting customer segment: the mid-market," Julie Sweet, chief executive officer of Accenture, said on 18 June. The company announced the launch of Accenture Edge to get more business from mid-sized firms. The world's largest IT services company is aiming to incorporate its software solutions for large clients into the IT systems of mid-tier companies. As part of this unit, Accenture will offer Microsoft's software to mid-sized clients in areas including cloud, AI and cybersecurity....